Typing with thumbs

I left Skull Creek Marina and headed south again.  It sure seems quiet when folks leave!  What great friends to join me for bits and pieces of this trip.  Rudy, Dick, John…

I saw the Sawdust (37’ Nordic Tug) at a distance, and talked to them on the phone for a little bit.

What a fun trip this has been, exploring the creeks and rivers down the coast of our nation.  I went thru Calibogue Soound into the Cooper River to Ramshorn Creek to the New River… thru a canal to Wright River, thru Fields Cut to the Savannah River, leaving South Carolina, and entering Georgia.

I must interject at this point the wonders of AIS.  The automated identification system is mandatory on large vessels, and optional on smaller vessels.  It transmits a variety of data about the vessel’s size, direction of travel, speed, and other significant information.  Why is this important in the Savannah River?  It makes it easier to dodge ships that are coming around the corner!  I sped up to get out of the path of the ship before it came around the bend, leaving a couple of sailboats a little confused, until they saw the ship!

Let’s see, South Channel, then a canal to Saint Augustine Creek, down the Wilmington River to Skidaway River, past the Isle of Hope (love that name) and into the Skidaway Narrows, around Pigeon Island and past Moon River. Immortalized by Georgia native Johnny Mercer in one of my favorite songs when learning to play the guitar.

Moon River, wider than a mile
I’m crossing you in style, some day
You dream maker, you heart breaker,
Wherever you’re going, I’m going your way
Two drifters, off to see the world
There’s such a lot of world to see
We’re after the same rainbow’s end
Waiting round the bend
My Huckleberry friend
Moon River, and me.

It seems funny that forty years after learning the song I’d be living it!  I’ve sang that song hundreds of times, and today I crossed the river in style… off exploring the world!

I kept singing down the Burnside River, and when I entered the Vernon River, I turned upstream, away from the ICW to find another gorgeous anchorage.  All those different waterways in less than forty miles.

To anchor Vernon River 31 56,235. 81 07,26

I won’t list all the different waterways for you today, except for a couple of detours away from the ICW.  I detoured thru Walburg Creek, which was a scenic creek that connects back to the ICW.  When I crossed Sapelo Sound, I detoured over to Blackbeard’s Island, and explored up Blackbeard’s  Creek for a couple of miles.  With a high tide of eight feet, there are all kinds of places you can explore from this boat!  We came back out towards the mouth of the creek, a launched the dinghy and went ashore to walk the sandy beach as the tide fell.  Mercy loves sandy beaches, and stretched out and ran, and ran, and ran.

Back at the boat, I realized that the outside hand shower is the perfect dog bathing solution, complete with hot water!  Mercy will always want it so good!

Several detours to explore. Anchored Blackbeard's Creek. 31 32.034. 81 12.521

We left Blackbeard’s Creek in the early morning, to catch the tide push.  It was great for the first couple of miles, and then FOG.   The sailboat Rachel fell in behind me.  Later, I met this lovely couple, and we visited several times over the next couple of days.

From Blackbeard’s Creek, we went to Fort Frederica, GA.  It was a place I’d never heard of.  General Oglethorpe established a fort there in the 1730’s.  I knew why I’d stopped when I read that Charles and John Wesley had come to this place, and from this fort sprang the origins of the Methodist church.  I stood in the place where these mighty men had preached, and prayed for the same revival that they prayed for hundreds of years earlier.

On to Fort Frederico. 31 13 255. 81 22.646

From Fort Frederica, I continued south to Cumberland Island, via a back channel, the Blackhill River.  I spent two nights there, fixing a few things on the boat, and walking through the old live oak trees. 

To Cumberland Island. 30 51.559. 81 28.035

On Thursday, I continued to the southern end of Cumberland Island, and once again anchored and dinghy-ed ashore.  Thanks Tom Rice for the use of the outboard!  I enjoyed the live oaks, and the peaceful woods.  What I really wanted to see was one of the horses, which I finally did, standing in the photo op area, under a huge live oak tree.  I think she was waiting for me.